Improvement in grain and straw separators



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER MAJOR, 0F LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoR 'ro HIM- sELF AND WILLIAM M. MAJOR.' t

IMPaovi-:MENT |N GRAIN AND sTRAwsEPARAToRs.

spec'iscanon forming part of Lettera Patent No.' 37,549, ama January emacs.

ToV aZZ whom iam/ay concern.'

Be it known that 1,'ALEXANDERMAJOR,

. of Lebanon, in the county of Lebanon and State of. Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Separating Grain s from its Straw; and I do hereby declare that the following is a fulland exact description there- Y of, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ofreference marked thereon, like letters in the several figures indicating like parts, and in which drawings.--

Figure 1 is' a sectional perspective view of my improved machine', with one .of its4side boards removed. Figs. 2 and 3-'are central transverse sections, the view being Atoward the rear of the machine; Fig. 4,au inverted. plan, and Fig. 5 a longitudinal section, 0f my improved machine. ln .the drawiugskca are the side boards bh the end pieces, and c c c' c' the legs, whichl togetherconstitute` an oblong rectangular-- formed frame to support the working parts ofv my improved machine, and which legs are proportioned in length, as indicated in Fig. 5, in order to give a pitch to the frame toward its receiving end, or the end upon which the straw is fed. Central of -tliis frame, and extending longitudinally thereof, I secure in any proper manner a partitionboard,D,tapered from its front to rear end, as indicated` in the drawings, and having awidth o n a vertical line throughout its length from its front to its 'rear end equal to the greatest elevation as well as greatest depression of the perforated` shakers situated on either side of it.

- E E' are perforated shakers, made to oscil# late or operate 4with a reciprocating movement forward and back longitndinalof the frame ofthe machine,.said shakers being suspended at their forward ends upon a double crank', F, the bearings of which pass through the .side

boards, a, and partitiouboard D,as'represented 'ini the figures, and with their rear ends snpported upon the cross-tie or 'end piece, bf, as shown.' The oppositev arms, .g g', of the double crank F are made to engage with'longitudiual strips 'kh h h', as indicated in Figs.- 1,4, and 5, and in such manner that during, a revolution of the crank one of the said shakers shallbecome elevated 'and moving with a thrust longitudinal of, and in a direction toward, the

rear of the machine, while its fellow shakerI becomes depressed and movmgwith a thrust toward the front of the machine, and vice versa, the forward ends of the said shakers during such revolution of the crank -F being made to describe a movement coincident withl thatdescribed by the arms g g" of said crank.

The lfstri'ps h and h of che shakers may be tapered oli' at their rear ends, as at h, Fig. 1, or they ,may be made of uniform dimensions throughout.

j As, clearly represented in Fig. l1, the forward' endfs of the shakers E E are provided with metallic frction-plates iz', slightly curved, and having their ends, as at i', set either iiush with or upon the working-face of theshakers. .Said plates may, however, be made planefa'ced, insteadlof slightly concave, and however made actin conjunction with loosely-hinged main-stops L L. whicharticulate unon a rod.

m,lsituated at the head offthe machine, as clearly shown inv Fig. 1. Thus, during a forward and back movement of'the shakers, the

edges2 of the grain-stops L L'are in constant contact with the face of the plates i, and so' prevent any kernels of grain or portion ofthe straw fromworking their way out of the-mal chin-e at its front end.

In, order that the straw, from which lgrain.

is to be shaken, may be retained uponthe machine .theA requisite length of time, or not .too readily be' passed from its forward to its rearend, I so proportion thelenfgth of the.

legs c o as to give a pitch tothe machine, as represented in Fig. '5.' The straw thus in .its

.passage through the machine travels up an inclined plane, the; tendency of which would be to accumulate the straw at4 the forwardl end, in which the crank F is situated. I there- .vature of the grain-stops, and so that when the shaker E is 'in theelevated position, as

represented in said figure, the grain-stop L will have its face coincident 'with the curve k,

while at the same time the grain-stop L' is de# pressed-and in contact with the correspondrot-ated, and with great speed, the straw is vrated from the straw, and passes through the ingly-depressed shaker E. Thus, while the shakers are in the position just described, the straw P, Fig'. l, will in part be depressed with the shaker E', and elevated with the shaker E over the partition-board D, and when the relative positions of the said shakers become changed, as shown in Fig. 3, the straw will be thrown into the reversed position, as indicated in last-named figure.

'It will thus be seen that as the crank F is violentlyr agitated with a movement lon gitudinal of the machine, at the same time that is thrownv crossWise-of the machine over the partition D, and upon the shakers E and E', as they alternately become eleva-ted and depressed. The grain is thus thoroughly sep-.aJ-

perforations in the shakers into any vproper receptacle beneath.

It will be evident that my invention may be applied in place ot the ordinary straw-can i rier and separator-apron, as used with comclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

subjecting the straw to a longitudinal and a lateral undulating motion along and across l a stationary partition, by means of a vibrating apron made in two or more sections, and operated substantially as set forth.

Vitness my hand in the matter of my application for a patent for a grainseparator this 19th day of November, A. D. 1862.

ALEXANDER MAJOR. Witnesses:

G-Us'rAVE DIETERIGH, D. C. LAWRENCE. 

